Today, the agricultural sector remains one of the key sectors of the Ukrainian economy. In the first half of the year, Ukraine’s food exports totalled USD 12.4 billion. This was stated by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a Government session on 2 August.

“The agricultural sector means tens of thousands of jobs. It is investments for development and taxes for the sustainability of the state,” the Prime Minister said.

According to the Head of Government, the state today supports farmers in three key areas. The first is financial programmes. These include grants, compensation and soft loans. The second is logistics support. The third is humanitarian demining.

“As part of the eRobota programme, we have launched grants to create new gardens and greenhouses. Almost UAH 1 billion of such grants have already been paid out. 2,700 hectares of new gardens have been planted. 70 hectares of new greenhouses have been laid,” said Denys Shmyhal.

According to him, the Government has decided to strengthen the programme. The list of regions for planting cherries, peaches and apricots has been expanded. In addition, winegrowers will be able to use grants to plant their own vineyards. At the same time, the condition that vineyards must be planted with an irrigation system has been removed.

Another key mechanism to support farmers, according to the Prime Minister, is soft loans. This year, under the Affordable Loans at 5-7-9% programme, UAH 26.5 billion in loans have been provided to more than 5,600 farmers.

“We have also introduced a separate subsidy for farmers in the de-occupied territories. We pay UAH 8,000 per 1 hectare of cultivated land. This is an important programme that returns jobs and taxes to the communities where the fighting took place. This year, UAH 800 million of subsidies will be paid to farmers who keep livestock. This is 14,000 farms. We are helping small and medium-sized farmers to develop a promising livestock industry,” the Prime Minister said.

A separate subsidy is also provided to support small farms. According to Denys Shmyhal, small farmers will be able to receive UAH 4,000 per 1 hectare of land they farm. The budget earmarks UAH 1.2 billion for this programme. The first wave of applications has already been completed, and payments will be made to almost 3,500 agricultural producers.